UT associate professor, William M. Novick, MD, spoke at the United Nations General Assembly Hall on Tuesday, April 27 in commemoration of the world’s single worst nuclear accident, the Chernobyl tragedy.
University of Tennessee Health Science Center associate professor, William M. Novick, MD, spoke at the United Nations General Assembly Hall Tuesday, April 27 in commemoration of the 18th anniversary of the world’s single worst nuclear accident, the tragedy of the Chernobyl power plant.
As founder and medical director of the International Children’s Heart Foundation, Dr. Novick and the work of the Foundation in Belarus were featured in the documentary, “Chernobyl Heart.” This film received an Academy Award in the Documentary Short Subject category and focused on the continuing after-effects of the Chernobyl disaster. With a mission to help children with congenital or acquired heart disease in developing countries throughout the world, the Foundation and Dr. Novick have been on several mission trips to the Belarus area, where they have saved many children’s lives with cardiac surgery.
Dr. Novick commented, “The impact on communities in Belarus, the Russian Federation and Ukraine remains severe today in spite of the fact that this event happened almost twenty years ago The commemorative ceremony at the United Nations was held to draw attention to the continuing needs of people in the affected areas, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), and the United Nations Development Programme ( UNDP), as well as the governments of the three affected countries.”